Last night, after a full day: trips to the eye doctor, library, Wal-Mart, swim practice, and completing our homeschool; we wandered over to Mimi's house with our flashlight and a bag full of snacks to enjoy the first part of the miniseries, The Bible. Mimi recorded it for us last Sunday. As a child, I learned in Sunday School about Noah's Ark, Abraham's sacrifice, Lot's wife turning to a pillar of salt, and Moses leading his people out of Egypt. When I learned the stories, it was a solemn affair. We read. The teacher asked questions, not us. We colored a picture and ate a cookie and waited for Sunday School to be over. Not so for the boys.
Their behavior bordered on heresy; and yet, they enjoyed the stories and asked questions afterward. When Abraham tied Isaac to the alter and told him to trust in God, we all agreed that if we were Isaac, we'd be thinking that our dad was CRAZY. We also agreed that old Sarah could really cover some ground in her sandals when she needed to!
As Moses' people left Egypt and found themselves trapped at the edge of the Red Sea, John Robert pretended to be Moses, and stated in a deep voice: "I have an idea! Does everyone know how to swim?" Then we watched in amazement at the recreation of the parting of the Red Sea.
They loved the angels who protected Lot's family-- they were warriors! This especially appealed to Spencer and Denver. They were less fond of those angels when Lot's wife looked back at Sodom and turned to a pillar of salt. "Those angels sure are fickle," noted Spencer.
As we skipped home through the woods after the movie, Denver said, "Wow! I did not know about all those people! I thought the Bible was just about Jesus." He said he liked the stories because they were "actiony."
It is a joy for me to see the boys learning about the biblical stories in a joyful way. I remember being afraid to make jokes or ask questions. I was never invited to imagine myself in the stories or think about what I liked or didn't like. The boys felt free to express themselves and enjoy the stories. I love that they felt such freedom to question and wonder.
We'll be back to Mimi's next week to watch the second part of the series or maybe we'll make time to watch it this Sunday at 8pm.
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